Kings of Leon: "Bigger Than We Wanted to Be"from Spin Magazine Online - by Matt Kiser

Wednesday night, Kings of Leon cemented their rock-god status, nabbing four Grammy nominations for "Use Somebody," the chart-storming ballad off 2008's Only by the Night, the record that finally rocketed the Tennessee quartet to international superstardom.

But while massive success often comes with accolades, it also has its pitfalls, and the constant exposure for Night hits like "Sex on Fire" and "Use Somebody" had Kings frontman Caleb Followill second-guessing his band's path to the limelight.

"We definitely got bigger than we wanted to be," Caleb tells SPIN. "You feel like you've done something wrong. That woman in mom jeans who'd never let me date her daughter? She likes my music. That's fucking not cool. You almost start doing damage control: When people ask you to do stuff, you're like, 'No, because I can already tell this record is going to get to a level where people will fucking hate us.'"

While the band might not have anticipated reaching such commercial heights -- their first three albums each moved a moderately successful 200,000 copies in the U.S., despite adoration by European audiences -- one major rock icon knew it was about to happen.

"Ed [Vedder of Pearl Jam] actually called it immediately," Followill says. "He was one of the first people to hear Only by the Night, and he said, 'You're about to ride a big wave.' I don't even think he liked the record. But he knew immediately that we were about to go through something big."
Read more more of our interview with Caleb and his bandmates in SPIN's January/February issue (on stands December 22).

i dont believe any of that. they've been trying to get huge for years and would do anything to get it. this is exactly what they wanted. now its the "oh i wish i wasn't so famous" line. boohoo.

YOU KNOW THAT I CAN USE SOMEBODY!

Maybe they should stop doing videos then.

Indeed.

You could pretty much say the same thing about Jeff and Stone from the early PJ days. But yeah, I agree.

I actually believe that they didn't want to become huge and would rather fly just under the radar

i believe he was right, eddie vedder probably didnt like it

Do you think hanging out with Ed would be like hearing one ocean reference after another, and on and on....

I love that album. Closer is an awesome song.

Mike told Ed in the early days not to let back too much with not doing videos and interviews because he had dreamed of being a rock star his entire life and didn't want ruin his big shot. I'm not saying Mike wanted to sell out but he knew Pearl Jam was going to be something special and he didn't want to give that up.

Was my first thought when I read it.

I'm probably going to get slammed for saying this. The record with sex on fire is the only KoL record I know. I like it. There are some pretty good songs on there. But it reminds me a lot of Bush.

Their first 3 albums are much better. At least to me...One or my buddies hated KOL, and the more I played them for him, the more he hated. Then he heard Only By The Night and really liked it; I'm the exact opposite.

i like em ok.

They have their moments. Slow night, so long. Knocked up. The Bucket. Crawl. I don't mind them getting huge airplay

I know, it's one big ocean of ocean cliches for that dude....after some time I'd be like:

"Hey Ed, how do you feel about ponds and lakes?"

Jeff Ament is a "lake" guy. I wonder if he writes songs about the ripples in the lakes of Montana?

I think Ed envisions heaven as sitting on a porch on a wave.